NO! BUMMER! USHER NO-SHOW!

appearance at a LONDON clothes store on Saturday (January 27) after staff decided they “could not guarantee” his safety, NME.COM can reveal.

The star, who entered the UK single chart at Number Two last night (January 28) with ‘Pop Ya Collar’, was due to appear at Top Shop’s flagship store on Oxford Street in London at 3pm on Saturday to perform the track and meet and greet fans.

However, staff at the shop, which has previously played host to instore

appearances by acts such as A1 and Jamelia, seriously underestimated the popularity of Usher.

Eager fans had started to gather at 10am, and by early afternoon, store

Sharethrough (Mobile)

Usher’s stage had been built as a crowd of several hundred threatened to overwhelm the limited security present.

After delaying Usher’s appearance by half an hour in a bid to monitor the crowd, management finally announced at around 3.30pm that,”Usher Raymond is not in the store today’, and that owing to ‘circumstances beyond our control, Usher will not be making an appearance instore today’.

During his wait, Usher repeatedly told NME.COM’s soul correspondent that he “wanted to perform” and did not want to “disappoint the fans”. He and his entourage finally left when told that if the growing crowd was allowed into the lower area, his safety “could not be guaranteed”.

In a show of partial defiance they then circled the W1 area in their mini-van